"They will talk and talk and talk and look important
and remain as always, impotent, indecisive and inactive.
They might pledge a few pennies to the Palestinian dying
or the mortally wounded, they might voice support of the
6-month-old Intifida, but nothing but pomp and ceremony
will come of it all."

"Arab leaders now have the chance to insist that there
be a comprehensive peace based on justice, equality and
the inalienable rights of all concerned parties. They
have the power to do this; they have the money and the
means. But they don't have the guts and they simply
don't care."

EXPECTED SCENARIO AT ARAB SUMMIT IN AMMAN

By E. Yaghi*

I can already hear the trombones blaring out their welcoming music and the drums
boom boom booming in time. The goosesteps of the soldiers in welcoming formation,
a carry over from the good old colonial days, will march in perfect unison to
appropriate accompanying tunes.

Helicopters will buzz overhead, keeping vigilance over busy thoroughfares and
police will be positioned throughout the capital making sure nothing goes wrong.

Royal heads of state and other Arab presidents will zoom into the kingdom with
their personal planes full of bodyguards, attendants, hairdressers, grooms, chefs
and servants to the lavish surroundings of plush hotels and bellboys waiting
on their every demand. Suddenly the semi-arid country will spout forth fountains
of water in which to bathe and Jacuzzi each and every special leader. Elaborate
banquets will spread out on endless tables and those whose bellies have already
been fed to the max will then dine on feasts fit for kings and noblemen. And
all the while these noble leaders dine and feast in their extravagant surroundings,
the poverty stricken will
stare through stained glass windows with hungry eyes and empty stomachs and be
dismissed by the nobility with, "Well if they can't afford to buy bread, let
them eat biscuits instead!"

While they are wined and dined, and while they sit at tables full of exquisite
fine smelling bouquets, Palestinians will continue to carry their dead and wounded
out on endless stretchers and bloodthirsty Israeli soldiers and settlers with
"Born to Kill" emblazoned on their foreheads, will continue to batter them out
of existence.

All the while, Arab leaders will deliver lengthy sermons and eloquent speeches.
They might promise mountains of gold to those who have already fallen and if
we are lucky, one or two might even shed a tear of remorse at the growing number
of dead and wounded. They might even remember the child who died at an Israeli
checkpoint from a burst appendix or the little boy who passed away from heart
failure because the Israelis refused to let him cross over to Egypt where he
could have gotten life-saving emergency care. They might mention the little Palestinian
10-year-old who was abducted by Israeli settlers and found two days later with
his head bashed in.

Yes, they will talk and talk and talk and look important and remain as always,
impotent, indecisive and inactive. They might pledge a few pennies to the Palestinian
dying or the mortally wounded, they might voice support of the 6-month-old Intifida,
but nothing but pomp and ceremony will come of it all. They might even condemn
Israeli atrocities and ask, mind you, only ask, that the siege of Palestinian
cities and villages be lifted. But nothing will come of it all and things will
go on as before or grow even worse.

After all, what are Palestinian lives compared to the rest of the Arab nation?
More importantly, what are they compared to the lives of the nobility? Why should
any Arab leader living better than a king worry about what happens in the Holy
Land? There are other much more important issues at stake, such as how and where
next to spend a million dollars on self-gratification and how to best confiscate
more money from oil revenues or their people's incomes making sure that in the
end, they totally bankrupt their countries' resources and their own states.

This is what will happen. What should happen is an entirely different matter.
No one is in need of eloquent speeches and lengthy sermons or verbose rhetoric.
Such do not bring back to life, the children who have died nor replace limbs
that have been amputated. No one needs crocodile tears. Palestinian children
want protection and to be assured that they will be able to grow up just like
all other normal children in peaceful areas of the world. They really don't care
what fabulous meals are served at summit feasts or how well entertained the heads
of state will be. They don't need empty promises of a trickle of money that they
know they will never see in the first place.

What they do want is to have freedom and self-determination and to live in happiness
and safety just as their Israeli counterparts do.

The Arab leaders could for the first time in more than 50 years, take a united
stand. They could serve an ultimatum to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instead
of paying lip service to the ongoing slaughter of the innocents. They could also
tell Bush Jr. that either he get the Israelis off Palestinian backs and lift
the siege and bombardment of Palestinian homes and villages or else suffer the
consequences.

Arab leaders now have the chance to insist that there be a comprehensive peace
based on justice, equality and the inalienable rights of all concerned parties.
They have the power to do this; they have the money and the means. But they don't
have the guts and they simply don't care.

So after their weepy, lengthy, boring-to-the-point-of-tears- speeches, they will
pull out of their plush hotels, gather up their army of bodyguards and attendants
and zoom back home to their even plusher palaces, convinced that they had accomplished
something. And in the meantime, because of Arab impotency, Israelis will continue
to pillage and plunder, slaughter the innocents and then tell the world that
they will not talk until and unless the Palestinians stop the violence.

* The author is originally from the USA and now lives in and writes from Amman

March 2001

Magazine

SHARON UPSCALES VIOLENCE TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS (March 31, 2001) Yesterday, on Palestinian Land
Day, the Israeli army killed five Palestinians in Nablus and one in Ramallah
during civilian demonstrations protesting the Israeli occupation. 150 Palestinians
were injured, several of them in critical condition.

CHOMSKY ON THE MID-EAST CONFLICT (March 31, 2001) Well, just how dangerous is the crisis in the Middle East? There is a UN Special
Envoy, a Norwegian, Roed-Larson. A couple of days ago, he warned that Israel's
blockade of the Palestinian areas is leading to enormous suffering and could
rapidly detonate a regional war.

CLASHES ERUPT AMID WAVE OF ANTI-ISRAELI PROTESTS (March 30, 2001) Israeli troops opened fire with live rounds on
Friday to try to halt Palestinians marching in cities across the West Bank and
Gaza Strip to demand civil rights and an end to Israeli occupation.

AN ISRAELI OFFERS HOPE AMIDST THE DARKNESS (March 30, 2001) In the past two weeks, we are witnessing the beginning of a new phase: Israelis
and Palestinians are extending a hesitant hand to each other, across the IDF's
barricades and checkpoints.

A CONFLICT SINKING TO NEW DEPTHS (March 29, 2001) The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has sunk to appalling new
depths with several days of intensified violence that left children on both
sides to form the bulk of the dead.

ISRAELIS STRIKE, NOBODY RESPONDS (March 29, 2001) The Egyptians and Jordanians could and should totally suspend their relations
with Israel; but they do not. The Arabs could collectively demand Israel be suspended from the U.N. General
Assembly; but they did not decide to do so at their little summit just ended
where they in fact did nothing serious.

ASSAD & SADDAM "ATTACK" (March 28, 2001) Lot of rhetoric, more than expected in fact. But mostly a smookescreen for never-ending
impotence and inexcuseable weakness. So much for the Arab Summit in Amman.
Until those Arab "leaders" who have squandered the wealth and heritage of their
countries, and indeed of their once powerful civilization, are replaced; until
the "client regimes" of the Arab world are no more; this tragic spectacle known
as Arab "summits" will continue to be a deep embarrassment and a historic tragedy.

ARAB SUMMITS - RIDICULOUS SPECTACLES (March 27, 2001) Arab "leaders", the "client regimes", and Arab "summits", have been ridiculous
spectacles for a long time now.
Last time they met like this the American armies were descending on Arabia, getting
ready to destroy Iraq and put one of their own, the despicable British-created
Emir, back on his oil throne in Kuwait City.

ARAB SUMMITEERS AND CROCODILE TEARS (March 26, 2001) "They will talk and talk and talk and look important
and remain as always, impotent, indecisive and inactive.
They might pledge a few pennies to the Palestinian dying
or the mortally wounded, they might voice support of the
6-month-old Intifida, but nothing but pomp and ceremony
will come of it all."

THE U.N. AND THE ARAB LEAGUE CHARADES (March 25, 2001) The U.N. and Arab League charades have gone on for so many years now. Never
has either body taken serious action when it comes to Israel. Always the U.S.
is there to block the way, to twist things from potentially useful to impotent,
to manuever so that the U.S. remains dominant internationally and Israel remains
dominant in the region.

SHARON MOVING FAST (March 24, 2001) haron and company are now likely to move quickly to further "control"
the Palestinians and establish their hegemonic and war-threatening policies
in the Middle East.

Today in Occupied Palestine (March 23, 2001) Amr Moussa and the Arab political elite representing the "client regimes"
have been deceived and acted foolishingly, as well as selfishly, for quite
a long time now.

WHAT SHOULD BE WITH ISRAEL (March 22, 2001) If the Arabs regimes were serious, indeed if they were truly independent,
they would institute a Arab and Muslim regional boycott of Israel at this
point, at least suspend all diplomatic and economic relations with Israel,
and forcefully move to have the U.N. General Assembly suspend Israeli credentials
(as was done with South Africa in the days of Apartheid) as soon as the
U.S. again prevents the Security Council from acting in the days ahead.

ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS IN USA WORSE THAN EVER (March 20, 2001) We were wrong in our analysis earlier today. The Arab and Muslim groups
did not even manage a few hundred protestors at the White House today --
the number was closer to a few dozen at most, including the handful of
fanatical bearded and side-curled Naturei Karta Jews who are encouraged
by these groups to show up these days.

WASHINGTON SCENE: ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS PROVE IMPOTENCE ONCE AGAIN (March 20, 2001) It's depressing, almost pathetic, to watch the Arab and Muslim American
groups "protest" these days. Leaderless and strategyless, though as usual
feverishly combining all of their capabilities together to create even
this, the groups managed to bring maybe five or six hundred persons to
the sidewalk across from the Washington Hilton last evening for a carefully
self-controlled demonstration.

WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING IS "FORBIDDEN" (March 19, 2001) "What is being done in the territories is simply forbidden. To safeguard against such acts, people have established laws and norms; those who wish to return to the norms current a century ago ought not to be surprised when they are treated as pariahs - indeed, as ghosts from bygone days."

ARABS URGE U.N. TO SEND INTERNATIONAL FORCE TO PALESTINIAN (March 16, 2001) The Israelis will insist on a U.S. veto of any Security Council resolution
involving any serious observer force.
And Shimon Peres willingly serving Ariel Sharon as his Foreign Minister
makes it much easier for the Israelis to deflect international pressures.

WE DIDN'T SEE; WE DIDN'T KNOW (March 15, 2001) The Palestinian people have many symbols, and one of them is Bir Zeit
university near Ramallah - the secular intellectual center of the
society.

SHARON COMETH (March 14, 2001) Monday in Washington the various Arab-American groups will stage a protest
demonstration outside the Washington Hilton where now Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will be talking to the lead organization that makes up the Israeli-Jewish
lobby in Washington.

U.S. MEDIA ESTABLISHMENT HELPS PREPARE SHARON'S WAY (March 13, 2001) Sharon's PR people are working hard preparing his way for a triumphant
visit to the USA in a few days. They choose Lally Weymouth, long a "friendly
journalist", for one of his first major interviews -- published in Newsweek
this week.

ISRAELI CONCENTRATION CAMPS (March 12, 2001) If barbed wire were used, the symbolism would be too much like concentration
camps of old.

BIR ZEIT UNIVERSITY CRIES OUT FOR HELP (March 11, 2001) As usual these days, the Palestinian people are being collectively
tortured into submission with still expanding forms of bondage, oppression,
and brutal force.

PERES FRONTS FOR SHARON AS ISRAELIS PUSH FORWARD MAJOR PROPAGANDA (March 10, 200198) Who is more despicable is debateable these days. But surely Shimon
Peres is deserving of nomination. As Israeli army snipers pick off Palestinians and as Israeli army bulldozers dig trenches around Palestinian towns and cities, Peres fronts for the new Sharon regime telling the world the Israelis are going to "make life better for the Palestinians"!

TRENCH AND SIEGE WARFARE (March 8, 2001) The words, and the acts, go back before the bible itself -- trench warfare
and siege. The Romans built walls and laid siege to Jerusalem and Masada.
Trenches, though for a different purpose, became synonymous with World
War I.

CRIES FROM PALESTINE AND CRIES FROM ISRAEL (March 6, 2001) My sister-in-law just called crying - about 4 hours
ago Al-Bireh had about 3 minutes of heavy gunfire.....
her neighbor, Aida, was walking back home on the Friends
road from Ramallah after shopping for the Eid holiday.

OH MY GOD! CLINTON WON'T LEAVE THE WORLD ALONE! (March 5, 2001) They came to Washington -- the two-for-one power couple -- with the campaign
promise to bring health care to all Americans; they left (but Hillary is
already back on Capitol Hill) with the dangerous corporate for profit HMO's
in power and more uninsured than ever despite the economic juggernaunt.

BOMB BLAST IN ISRAELI COASTAL CITY (March 4, 2001) A powerful bomb exploded during morning rush hour
Sunday in a crowded open-air market in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.

ISRAELIS LAY SIEGE TO PALESTINIAN CITIES (March 3, 2001) Sometime in the future there will be a day of reckoning for the Israelis.
But that day is not yet here while the suffering of the Palestinians is, literally,
more and more as each day dawns.

FIELD OF THORNS (March 3, 2001) The Palestinian uprising in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, which in late September 2000 began as a wave of popular
protest against Ariel Sharon's belligerent incursion into Jerusalem's sacred
Haram al-Sharif, has developed into a full-fledged war of attrition against
the Israeli occupation, which rather ironically paved the aggressive right-wing
leader's path to power.

SHARON AND PERES TEAM UP (March 2, 2001) It was a massacre. Not since Sabra and Chatila
had I seen the innocent slaughtered like this.
The Lebanese refugee women and children and men
lay in heaps, their heads or arms or legs missing,
beheaded or disemboweled.